The Will of Fire Lives Stronger Than Ever
by EyeOfTheBlizzard
Summary: What if in the Chunin Exam prelims, Lee fought Kiba and Naruto fought Gaara? What if Naruto had an ace up his sleeve that he was preparing for Sasuke? This oughta be interesting.
1. You Don't Stand a Chance!

The Will of Fire Lives Stronger Than Ever

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Got it?

**Author's Note:** this idea wouldn't leave me alone and I can't concentrate on Naruto: TSC because of it. Don't read if you don't already know how it happens in canon.

This story will begin in the Chunin exam preliminaries at what as in canon, Naruto vs. Kiba. What would've happened if Lee had fought Kiba and Naruto had fought Gaara in the preliminaries? Naruto will have to reveal a hidden strength to hope to defeat Gaara.

Ch1 You Don't Stand a Chance!

The Chunin Exam Third Round Preliminaries were more than halfway over.

Sasuke Uchiha, the avenger of Team 7, won out against some older Leaf genin who could absorb chakra through his hands by creating an Omote Renge knockoff that he called the Shishi Rendan.

Kankuro, a sand genin who was a puppeteer, beat an older Leaf genin who could stretch his body like rubber by having his puppet, Karasu, break his spine in a killer hug while Kankuro was hiding in the binding that normally held Karasu.

Shikamaru, Konoha's resident lazy genius, defeated a sound genin named Kin. She used a genjutsu that created hallucinations via the sound of her bells. Shikamaru won by using the Kage Mane to ram her head into a wall.

Temari, a sand genin used a giant fan to quickly crushing Konoha's weapons mistress, TenTen. All in all it was a rather unimpressive mismatch.

Shino the bug man, won against and sound genin named Zaku. He plugged Zaku's air cannon's with bugs. Zaku won't be using his arms anytime soon.

Battle of the Fangirls. Sakura vs. Ino. Call it what you will, but sparks were flying on minute one. Sakura proved that she no longer needed to be protected by Ino. The determination showed was impressive but the level of fighting was not. It was a tie.

Inuzuka Kiba vs. Rock Lee!

"Yahoo! All right Akamaru! This eyebrow freak probably can't fight worth anything anyway!" Kiba yelled as he jumped down to the stage below. Akamaru yipped in agreement.

"Yosh! It is finally my turn! I will defeat this adversary and make Gai sensei proud!" He shouted, in all his green spandex glory.

"Lee kun!" Commanded Gai. "Be wary of the dog. It may be part of one of his strategies." Gai whispered ominously, as if it was not common knowledge.

"Hai, Gai sensei! Such youthful and important advice!" Lee shouted as he scribbled in his notepad.

"Don't write it down Lee kun! You won't have time to review your notes in battle!"

"Oh! More great advice!"

"Go down there and make me proud Lee Kun!"

"Hai!" Lee vaulted over the railing in the observers balcony and down onto the stage.

"Hey Naruto, do you think Kiba will be all right? You saw what he did to Sasuke Kun, and Kiba isn't nearly as good as he is." Sakura asked, having recovered from her match by now.

"Definitely. Kiba's tough, and I doubt that Lee would needlessly bash a fellow Leaf nin anyways. At the very least I'll get to enjoy seeing dog breath get his ass handed to him!"

"Yeah."

"Yo."

"Kakashi sensei! How's Sasuke doing?" Naruto and Sakura asked excitedly.

"He'll be fine. He just needs some rest." Team 7's cycloptic sensei replied. Sakura sighed in relieve. Naruto looked forwards to match that they would no doubt have soon.

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Kiba had sobered up slightly, having heard the conversation on the balcony by the members of Team 7 with his enhanced hearing. If this guy could trash Sasuke he would have to go all out just to hope to win.

Of course, the fact that Lee was just standing there gesturing for him to go first wasn't helping his ego.

"Come on Akamaru, Let's go! Shikyaku no Jutsu! A more feral looking Kiba leapt towards Lee with Akamaru charging up the left side.

Lee muttered "Gomen." Under his breath and quickly pivoted out of Kiba's way. He pushed his head down onto the ground spun him into a nearby wall. He merely grabbed Akamaru out of the air and kept him at arms length. (Yes, people, the same maneuver he used against Naruto before the Exam)

The collision with the wall caused Kiba to black out for a full minute resulting in his immediate disqualification; as such a long period of time is defiantly long enough for someone to kill you. Needless to say, Kiba, of course, was cursing loudly at this.

The next match was Hinata vs. Neji. Hinata put up a brave fight, but in the end she was overpowered by the stronger and faster Neji. Naruto complained loudly during the match, saying that nobody who tries is a failure, and that when they fought, he would kick Neji's ass. For Hinata, a fellow failure in need.

Sabaku no Gaara vs. Uzumaki Naruto.

"Just get it over with." Gaara said in a monotone, having already Shushined down to the arena.

"Finally! It's my turn to shine!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly.

"Hey, Naruto."

"What Kiba? I gotta start my match!"

"Give up. This guy will kill you in cold blood the moment this starts. Be smart about this for a change." Kiba warned.

Naruto snorted. "Like I'm gonna give up against him. I can let the teme upstage me now, can we!"

"I'm being serious! You don't stand a chance!"

"Don't bother, Kiba. If you knew him better, you would know that he never gives up. He'll find a way to win." Sakura interjected as Naruto jumped down to the arena. Although she wouldn't admit it, she was worried. Sakura saw the way that Kankuro and Temari looked at him with obvious fear.

"Naruto! He uses sand!"

"Right!"

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"Begin!" Hayate jumped away from the two combatants.

Naruto immediately charged to give the raccoon eyed freak a five finger sandwich. To his surprise, the gourd Gaara was wearing exploded into sand and Naruto impacted a wall of sand.

Naruto tried to jump away as the sand started to engulf him. Key word is tried.

"You're not worth my time. Sabaku Ky-"

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" The sand exploded outwards in not a rain of blood, but a rain of ten Narutos. "Alright, you surprised me once. I wasn't expecting you to use the sand like that. But you can't stop all ten of me!" The ten Narutos proceeded to charge Gaara just as the original had done before.

Needless to say, they didn't last long. After about ten seconds of clone/sand war, only one was left and Gaara was untouched.

Gaara formed his sand into a spike. This one was more entertaining than most, but was quickly becoming boring. Yes, mother would feast on his blood!

"Urk!" The spike of sand sailed straight through Naruto's heart. He fell down in a graceful, yet bloody arc with a small smirk on his face, as if he knew something you didn't. The body then burst into smoke.

The only way that you could tell that Gaara had noticed was that his eyes widened by a fraction and that his sand was still swirling.

Behind the giant statue that someone had conveniently placed next to the wall was our blond haired idiot. "_Well, damn. Looks like it doesn't matte how many of me there are, they can't outmaneuver the sand. I was saving this for Sasuke teme, but I guess I'm gonna need it now. Good thing he's not here to see it firsthand, he'd probably copy it like he did with Lee's jutsu."_

Author's Note

Next chapter you get to see what Naruto's secret power is and the preliminaries are finished up. Tell me what you think of it please. How far I go with this depends on how many reviews I get. I will definitely go to the end of the Chunin exams, but if you want me to, I'll go to Sasuke retrieval mission and beyond.

If you don't know what the jutsus are just go to www . leafninja . com and look for them. It's great for Naruto canon info.

Hope you like it

Over and out.

EyeOfTheBlizzard


	2. The Ace is Out!

The Will of Fire Lives Stronger Than Ever

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Got it?

Sabaku no Gaara vs. Uzumaki Naruto.

_Well, damn. Looks like it doesn't matte how many of me there are, they can't outmaneuver the sand. I was saving this for Sasuke teme, but I guess I'm gonna need it now. Good thing he's not here to see it firsthand, he'd probably copy it like he did with Lee's jutsu."_

Ch2 The Ace is out

Sabaku no Gaara was standing in the middle of the arena waiting for Naruto to reveal himself. Meanwhile, in the stands, there was much muttering about the unprecedented amount of technique, smarts, and overall skill shown by Uzumaki Naruto.

"When was Naruto baka ever this good?" Muttered an astounded Ino, who didn't know that Naruto could perform the Bushin, much less the Kage Bushin.

Shikamaru, on the other hand smirked, having suspected Naruto having some sort of hidden potential ever since the day that he observed Naruto subduing and impersonating Sasuke, if only for a few minutes.

Kiba was a different story. "_Naruto, buddy, if you get out of this alive, I won't call you a dobe ever again. I don't want my ol' pranking buddy to die just because he was unlucky enough to face __**him**__. Your death would break Hinata chan's __heart;__ she's fragile as it is. Don't die, man." _ Yeah, Kiba was uncharacteristically worrying for his old buddy, having seen what that guy- no monster was capable of.

Sakura was worried for her teammate, sure, but there was no way that this Suna genin was stronger than the snake freak they came across in The Forest of Death. And even if it was a close match, Naruto could just use that weird, red, glowing, jutsu that allowed him to stop the huge snake summon with only two kunai. As much of a completely devoted fangirl as Sakura is, even she knew that her Sasuke Kun was not capable of that.

Down on the arena Naruto had just walked out from behind the giant statue and proceeded to sit down cross legged. Gaara, having not been given enough of a challenge to warrant an aggressive assault, decided to stand there and watch and hope that whatever the orange boy in front of him had in store would help him prove his own existence.

Naruto looked toward Gai for a moment before nodding, as if this was the right time to reveal his secret. He pulled up his pant legs to reveal… weights. He carefully unhooked the straps and laid them on the ground.

Kakashi, who had noticed Naruto glance at Gai asked, "Gai, when did you give Naruto weights?"

"YOSH! It happened on a youthful day on…"

(Alright I'm gonna flashback now since I have no desire to have Gai do one of his youth rants on this subject)

It was early morning, before sunrise and Gai was on his way to meet Lee for their standard early morning before breakfast training sessions of youth. He had heard that his unyouthful rival, Kakashi, had decided to be youthful for once in his life and had finally passed a team of genin to train one, maybe two weeks ago. He was contemplating the idea of having a completion between the two teams, but then remembered that it would be unyouthful to do so since they were still so green.

It was then that he heard someone running around, most likely doing speed drills by the sound of it. Gai was ecstatic about meeting someone who was almost as youthful as him and Lee, after all, only one with great youthfulness trains this early. (Since he knew that nobody else in the village wore the green spandex of youth)

Gai decided to quietly observe this person's method of training quietly as to not break the concentration of the youthful one. What he saw almost made him cry with tears of joy. It was a youngster, looked to be only a year younger than Lee. He wore an orange jumpsuit (well within the confines of youthful) and he looked to be alternating between various speed drills, punching and kicking a stump, and practicing his accuracy with basic nin tools.

_"Hm…Blonde hair, blue eyes, and whisker marks. That must be the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki that got put on Kakashi's team. Such youthfulness can't possibly be as evil as the villagers make him out to be."_ Gai gasped lightly when he noticed that the boy's form was terrible. He wasn't holding his kunai correctly; his feet were never in the correct position for any of the Taijutsu katas that he knew and he was the renound Taijutsu exert of Konoha! This problem had to be fixed. Kakashi's team or no, such youthfulness could not be wasted.

The boy's ears visibly twitched mid-punch and quick as lightning, had whipped around and thrown a kunai straight for Gai. Sure, it missed by a dew feet, but it was still astounding, a _genin_ had accurately sensed a seasoned _Jounin_ in the dead of night!

Naruto had palmed another kunai and was eyeing Gai when he jumped down form the trees. "Who are you and why are you watching me?" he asked, eyes clearly showing distrust at the strangely dressed man in front of him.

"I was just watching the youthfulness, as few people are youthful enough to get up to train earlier than the Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha, Maito Gai!"

"…" Naruto seemed more weirded out rather than distrustful at the moment as this eccentric Gai- person seemed to hold no ill will against him.

"Who taught you those drills? You are not performing them correctly at all."

Naruto laughed nervously. Maybe he could convince this guy to help him; he was wearing a Jounin jacket after all. "Nobody did. I saw a Chunin doing something like this once. He called it speed training."

"That won't do at all. Go through them again. I'll stop you and fix your footwork when necessary. "Naruto's footwork seemed to be more riddled with holes than humans with tenketsu. However, that didn't seem to be much of a problem as Naruto sucked up the teaching like a sponge, only having to be corrected again once or twice. He then showed Naruto the correct way to set up a speed training obstacle course.

"Naruto kun, who is your sensei? He should have been the one to correct these." Gai asked, setting up for the next question.

"Kakashi sensei doesn't know that I do these, cause we're always doing crap jobs (D rank missions) and teamwork exercises." Gai sweatdropped since he already answered the next question.

"Why do you focus so much on speed, you don't seem to have a particular style to complement it?"

"When we spar, Sasuke teme always beats me. I figured that he wins cause he's faster and can outmaneuver me. So when I become faster than him, and invent a style to counter his, his gigantic 'better than thou' ego will be knocked down a few notches."

"Your youthfulness to strive so hard to defeat your eternal rival is music to my ears! I have a speed training exercise you would benefit greatly from!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, suddenly suspicious. He remembered the last time someone on how to get strong quickly, and although his trademark jutsu was the reward, Naruto never wanted to be tricked like that again. "Why are you helping me so much? I'm not even your student."

Gai gasped, realizing that he was late to his training session with Lee. "I'm late! The unyouthfulness has soiled me! I promise to do 5000 one armed push ups on each arm, and if I cannot do that I will-"

"GAI SENSEI!" Naruto interrupted.

"Hm?"

"So what's this new training exercise you were talking about?"

"Weights! I will bring them here tomorrow. Don't tell anyone I'm doing this because I don't want my eternal rival Kakashi to think that I think that I need to train his students."

"Wait, you don't have t-" Gai had already run off as to not be later than he already was.

"Do that." Naruto sighed, but then continued training at a quicker pace due to the excitement of someday defeating the teme.

**Flashback Kai!**

"And that is how Naruto Kun got his leg and arm weights." Gai finished. Everyone who was paying attention to the story looked down to the arena to see that Naruto was now removing a pair of arm weights.

"Gai, how much do those weights weigh?" Kakashi asked cautiously, knowing what Gai usual standards were.

"Oh not much, 200 per leg, 100 per arm."

"But Lee san doesn't wear arm weights." Sakura commented.

"Oh, Sakura san, you are beautiful and observant! I didn't wear my standard arm weights because I can't hide them. Even if I did, everyone would suspect me to wear leg weights. Naruto Kun is about to turn the tables!" Lee shouted excitedly, seeing as Naruto was finally getting up. _You may be able to move almost as fast as me, and can agument your movements with chakra unlike me; however, I have been doing this for far longer than you. Lets see how you stamina holds."_

Naruto glared at Gaara for a moment and then he rushed to jab at him. He smirked when only a thin stream of sand had been able to come up not to stop his punch, but rather to deflect it away.

Gaara turned his head to see a hole punched on the other side from where Naruto was a second ago. And again, and again. "_This guy suddenly got fast enough to almost get past the Suna no Tate. I better put up the Suna no Yoroi for when he stops playing around I can tell that he's not aiming for direct hits yet. Heh, this might actually be worthy blood for mother after all."_

It was then that Naruto pulled a classic feint to fool the sand and gave Gaara an uppercut. He waited smugly for Gaara to get up to see the results. Needless to say, he was surprised when he saw that Gaara was not only untouched, but that it looked like his face had halfway fallen off into the sand.

Naruto retreated for a moment to form his favorite seal. Kage Bushin no Jutsu! Four clones appeared. _"The teme isn't the only one who can make a lotus __rip-off__."_

One Naruto feinted and gave an axe kick from below to the chin; knocking Gaara to the left into another two Naruto's who promptly kicked him into the air. The sand was being spread so thin that the punches easily got through.

The fourth Naruto slammed Gaara back toward the ground, where the last Naruto punched Gaara back to the original two that kicked him into the air. This continued for about two more cycles while the first Naruto was throwing in random hits to help distract the sand.

Naruto was going to end it. He slammed Gaara into the ground one last time and was going to follow up with an axe kick to the stomach. (Yes, like the Shishi Rendan) he yelled Naruto Rendan! (Maelstrom Barrage)

Up in the stands Sakura deadpanned, "Figures. He just can't resist named a technique after himself."

"It is named rather well." Asuma, Team 10's sensei commented.

"Fishcake barrage?" Choji asked, obviously thinking with his stomach rather than his brain.

"No, sensei's right. Maelstrom Barrage." Shikamaru corrected.

"When did Naruto get so good? Not even Sasuke was this good." Naruto has placed a seed of doubt in yet another one of Sasuke's fangirls.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. Those weren't ordinary punches. A normal punch would push through the sand and hug the skin, but these were _cutting_ right through. Almost like a bladed weapon, or wind. He dismissed that though immediately. There was no way that his student was using the Kazeken, it was somewhat like the Goken, except it was more unpredictable and way less refined. It was like a half style, more than anything else. He knew that Naruto might've been able to keep the secret about the weights since it would take time for him to take them off to reveal his true skill. But this, he had never seen Naruto do anything like this before. And he knew that Naruto wouldn't be able to not show off a special fighting style to try to beat Sasuke. Maybe he is doing it subconsciously. Trust Naruto to completely blur the line between idiot and genius. Kakashi would have to figure this out later.

Back on the field, Naruto was about to make the finisher when exploded from his body, easily dispersing all of his clones and slamming Naruto into a wall. His eyes widened as he came to a realization. _"That's why it was so easy past the sand once my barrage started. He gathered it all to his body. He probably doesn't even have a scratch on him.__ So, knowing that, it doesn't matter how many __clones there are, I need more power behind my punches. Guess I'll have to use __**its**__ chakra."_ Naruto glanced towards the Third as he remembered that conversation just after the mission to Wave.

**Flashback**

"Team 7 is dismissed. Naruto, stay here." Sarutobi commanded.

"Hai!"

"Naruto kun, is there anything you would like to talk to me about?"

Naruto gave the old man a slightly haunted look. "Hai. I used its chakra. I thought that Sasuke had been killed and- and…"

"Hn. It's alright Naruto Kun. So you almost hurt someone that you didn't wish to hurt?"

"Hai."

"Here" He tossed Naruto a scroll. "Those contain meditative exercises. Should this power escape again- and it will, if you cannot control it, you may end up hurting, if not killing those that are precious to you." The Sandaime was pleased to see that Naruto was horrified by the mere thought of that. "However, if you learn how to control it, it may become your greatest asset."

"Hai." Naruto had a determined glint in his eye.

"Be warned. Do not become dependant on this power. It may corrupt you and there are ways to cut you off from it. If you have to make a deal, confirm it with me before you agree. After all, thousands of years old foxes can be quite devious." The Third stated with an amused twinkle in his eye.

"Oh, and come up with a decent name for the technique, you can't just say that you're using its chakra, you know."

**Flashback Kai!**

Naruto folded his hands into the Kitsune seal. "_Give me chakra. Enough to break through the sand!__**" "Hai. You will fulfill your end of the bargain within the week."**_Naruto's body was slowly enveloped in an orange-red aura, yet his features were unchanged. No claws, fangs, or a change in eye color. Just an aura. Not even laced with the standard killing intent.

The Sound Jounin's (Orochimaru) eyes widened considerably when this happened._There was no way that a pre adolescent boy had the knowledge to remove the Five Pronged Seal nor had he had the time to go to the old fool to get it removed._

It seems that Naruto's ungodly amount of luck has saved his ass again. It seems that the Five Pronged Seal was originally a training technique in which one had to relearn how to use his or her chakra every few days since it made one's chakra affinity shift from one element to another every few days. And with Naruto's luck, it just shifted form his natural affinity for wind to fire. Since Kyuubi was a spirit of fire, well you get the idea.

Temari, Kankuro, and Baka- I mean Baki were stunned. This kid was suddenly releasing an amount of chakra almost equal to that of Gaara when he loses control.

Gaara, eyes wide and almost fearful, since mother was screaming for him to back down (she never did that) asked, "What is that?"

"As far as you're concerned, this is the Will of Fire!"

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**Authors Note**

Kazeken- wind fist- refers to a Taijutsu style that revolves around enhancing your punches with wind chakra.

Naruto Rendan- Maelstrom Barrage- Naruto forms several clones and performs a high speed juggling act then he slams them into the ground.

Thank you! I've never gotten so many reviews in so little time!

How do you like it? I know that it's not very original, but I liked the idea. I just discovered how hard it is to portray insane, psychotic people and hyper, loud people for long periods of time. If I was Naruto I would've talked to the third about the chakra abnormality after it happened, especially since he almost lost control. It seems so like Gai to help anyone and I mean anyone who is willing to strive toward a youthful goal. But really, making Naruto better is just to make Sasuke's jealously less misplaced. In canon he was jealous of Naruto even though he was still clearly better. It made little to no sense, one or two techniques won't make you into an invincible immortal.

Over and Out

Eye of the Blizzard


	3. This is the End!

The Will of Fire Lives Stronger Than Ever

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Got it?

Naruto was going to end it. He slammed Gaara into the ground one last time and was going to follow up with an axe kick to the stomach. (Yes, like the Shishi Rendan) he yelled Naruto Rendan! (Maelstrom Barrage)

_"That's why it was so easy past the sand once my barrage started. He gathered it all to his body. He probably doesn't even have a scratch on him. So, knowing that, it doesn't matter how many clones there are, I need more power behind my punches. Guess I'll have to use __**its**__ chakra."_

Gaara, eyes wide and almost fearful, since mother was screaming for him to back down (she never did that) asked, "What is that?"

"As far as you're concerned, this is the Will of Fire!

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Ch3 This is the End!

Proctor Hayate Gekko was slightly relieved that the fox boy-no, Uzumaki Naruto seemed to be controlling some of the Kyuubi's chakra rather than being possessed by it, like most people feared. It also helped that the youkai felt vastly different than what was felt during the attack twelve years ago. Rather than overbearing and filled to the brim with bloodlust, there was an almost protective aura surrounding the orange clad boy. It didn't seem to contain any more killing intent than an average genin going on Chunin should be able to produce, much unlike his opponent from Sand, who was capable of insanely large amounts of it.

Most of the Rookie Nine was astounded that the dobe, the loser, the idiot of Team 7 was now displaying a show of power that nobody would even expect from Sasuke, or anyone else their age for that matter.

Kiba had gone from worrying for his friend to being jealous of his power. Shino now had a theory as to why his bugs tended to avoid Naruto. Ino was still trying to comprehend the fact that Naruto was so much better than the idiot that she thought she knew to have noticed that he was now gushing out power. Choji had stopped munching on his chips in sheer awe. Shikamaru was trying to figure out how Naruto was producing _red_ chakra, of all things.

Sakura, already expecting something like this, was watching intently to see what it was capable of against a foe in their own age bracket. She then swore to not be left behind. If Naruto could be this strong, then so could she. It was no longer about proving herself to Sasuke, but proving that she was worthy of being on the same team as two such strong pinnacles of power.

As the red aura finally enveloped Naruto completely, he rushed forward once more, noticeably faster than before. The tile floor was scorched where he had stepped. Naruto hit Gaara with a standard jab and pushed off in preparation for the next punch. He noticed that from where he hit, a small amount of powdered glass fell from Gaara's protected figure.

Lee, although outwardly screaming about how youthful the technique was thinking differently. "_So even Naruto, a loser not unlike myself, has a special power that gives him the edge. Maybe that is what is required to be strong. No! I can't think like that! I know that I am faster than that with three __gates open, much less the five I am capable of, and his form is terrible! I know that even at his strength, I could defeat him! Yosh!"_

Neji just chalked up Naruto's success to fate, convinced that when they finally fought that he, being a Hyuuga, would have fate on his side. After all, no destiny is worse than being branded with a mark that you cannot remove, right?

Naruto's next few hits spun Gaara around like a pinball, leaving a bit of powdered glass behind with each punch. After deeming the Suna no Yoroi pummeled enough, the Kyuubi vessel kicked Gaara up into the air once more. Then he quickly formed the seal for the Kage Bushin no Jutsu to produce four clones of himself.

As Gaara attempted to right himself through the pain that he was unaccustomed to as he fell to try to land on his feet, three Naruto's kicked his now heavier body even farther into the air. The other two then kicked him up to where he was nearly an arms length away from the ceiling.

As he fell, the Naruto's begin to juggle him again. They let Gaara fall a few feet before kicking him back into the air. After letting it go like this for almost a minute, Gaara's sand armor was almost completely gone due to the effects of the red chakra.

The four Kage Bushins poofed out of existence, seeming to have expended all of their energy by then. The real Kyuubi vessel however, kicked off from the ceiling, all of the red chakra focused to his right fist, kicked Gaara down one last time before preparing the final blow.

Temari and Kankuro were terrified. The orange kid that they had immediately deemed as a weak and useless shinobi not only had gotten through Gaara's Suna no Tate, not only had he forced Gaara into a complete defensive by making him activate the Suna no Yoroi, not only had he injured Gaara, not only was he producing more chakra than they had ever felt even from Shukaku, but this little monster of a kid was now going in for the final blow.

Naruto's youkai enhanced fist struck Gaara just before he would've impacted on the floor, causing a small crater that was a couple of meters in diameter to form. Naruto used the recoil of the impact to launch himself away from the damaged tile, landing just far enough away to react if Gaara wasn't down for the count.

Sure enough, Gaara's gourd that just happened to be made of sand had cushioned his fall. He felt just about every kick in that barrage, but was alive. Well, alive enough to try to send his sand to attempt to crush this very worthy foe.

Naruto's right arm was, well it was sore. He had never focused such a large amount of energy to one part of his body before. He snapped out of contemplating whether or not his hand was fractured when he noticed that several tendrils of sand were being shot towards him by his downed (but not out) foe.

The blonde quickly dodged around the sand and moved towards the redhead who was slowly picking himself up. Naruto went in for a knockout shot, but was thwarted by the remaining sand once more.

_"I've used all of the red chakra, but I could still make __a few__ shadow clones if I had to. That sand must not be used to moving so much, it moves slower than the stuff I glassed up. All I need is one solid hit and I should be able to knock him out."_Then Naruto noticed that rather than throwing the sand at him in waves or keeping it close as a defense, Gaara was forming the sand in to an arm blade.

"So this is it, huh? Keeping that sand shield on you must've taken up a lot of chakra." Although it was clear that Naruto had more stamina left than Gaara, all that running around has taken a number on him. He has enough chakra to keep going, but a body will rebel if pushed too far. It has to end, here and now.

Without warning both shinobi charged. Naruto went for one last chakra enhanced right hook while Gaara was looking to skewer the blonde with his Suna no Ittou. (Blade of sand)

Naruto shifted to the right slightly, avoiding a fatal impalement, and clocked the Suna Nin right in the face. Nearly all of the genin in the audience flinched slightly at the sound Gaara's head made when it cracked against the tile floor.

It became clear the Naruto did not get away unscathed when the left sleeve of his orange jacket fell off to reveal that he had been cut all the way to the bone.

(1)After a few seconds of Gaara not getting up, Hayate announced; "Winner Uzumaki Naruto. I believe that we are in need of medical attention."

There was no applause for this astounding victory. This was mainly because everyone was still processing that Naruto the idiot, the loser, the dead last had done it. He had defeated that scariest genin in the entire exam. By the time anyone thought to cheer for the victory, the two Jinchuuriki had been moved to the medical bay to be treated for their injuries

"_Naruto Kun, I respect you as the better fighter. I see that even with your special ability, you do not get any shortcuts like with the Byakugan or the Sharingan. I know that for me to get Gaara san in such a condition would've required the use of the Ura Renge. I also know that if I had done that, I would've been caught in the__ sand__ afterwards. I salute you,__ a fellow genius of hard work__."_

**In the Medical Bay**

One redheaded genin was beginning to wake up. "Urgh… this pain. I am still alive?" The memories of the fight began to resurface. "…Why? He could've killed me. He is superior, why did he spare me?"

"So you finally up, then?" Naruto asked, playing with his recently bandaged arm. (Turns out that there were no fractures.)

"…You… Why are you so strong?"

Naruto blinked at the sudden question and scratched his head in confusion."What do you mean? There are lots of different kinds of strength, you know."

"What is your purpose? What makes you strong?"

"My purpose? I don't know what you mean by that, but I know that I got this strong through lots of hard work. Nothing came easy to me. I had to train my butt off every day to get where I am right now. From the way you fought, I looked like you're used to relying on your sand to do everything for you. It looked like you didn't know what to do when the sand couldn't keep up with me. I think I just had more tricks up my sleeve than you."

"…Hard work, huh? I never did have to train much… Mother always protected me... I will become strong enough to defeat an opponent such as yourself by learning to not depend on Mother. I will grow strong on my own strength. Then I want a rematch. Promise me this Uzumaki."

"…Right. I promise we will have our rematch in the future. You can count on it! Cause Uzumaki Naruto doesn't break his word! _Sand-Mother-wait, __what_"

"…You have your word to uphold to that Hyuuga girl as well, don't you? "

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot! I still gotta kick Neji's ass! I better go check on how the others are doing! See ya, Gaara!"

"… Uzumaki doesn't seem to need to kill to prove his existence. So what does prove his existence…?"

**At the Prelims Arena**

Naruto arrived on the scene just in time to see his 'plump' friend Choji get fried by the Oto mummy's sound punch attack/thing.

"Hey Shika, what did I miss?"

Shikamaru grumbled slightly at being called such a weird name but figured it would be too troublesome to say it out loud. "I think he lost on purpose. We agreed to take him out for barbecue regardless of whether or not he won. "

Naruto sweatdropped. "Yeah, that would be Choji all right. What?" The rest of the Rookie Nine were all staring at him now, as if they were looking for an underneath the underneath.

"When did you get so strong?" Ino inquired, obviously still not entirely believing what she saw during Naruto's match.

Naruto deadpanned. "During the last six months." Everyone face vaulted at that, since that would be anytime between graduation and now.

"How did you get so strong?" Kiba asked/demanded. He was not about to be left behind by the dobe.

Naruto smirked. "I do lots of push ups and sit ups and drink plenty of juice.""HOW YOUTHFUL!!! SOMEONE ELSE USES OUR TRAINING REGIMENT OF YOUTH!" Lee and Gai began to man-hug complete with sunset uber-genjutsu.

Shikamaru had a question not too troublesome to ask. "How did make your chakra red?"

"Err… Oh, lookie here! Hokage Jiji is calling the winners down for some sort of speech. We better not make him wait!" Naruto proceeded to jump over the railings down to the floor, dragging the shadow user with him.

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**Author's Note**

Ug… the end of the fight feels so… unoriginal. Well, at least the wheels of change are beginning to move. With Naruto's different explanation as to why he is strong will Gaara still become Kazekage in the future? Will the invasion still go according to plan since Gaara won't be having his match? Will Gaara participate in the invasion? People are starting to ask questions and Naruto is on the spot!

I hope you all like this chapter. I sure do.

I figure that with Gaara's body in such bad condition, Shukaku wouldn't have been able to do anything even if it did possess Gaara. It's not like Shukaku has the healing factor that Kyuubi does after all. Besides, knocked out is different than asleep, right?

Suna no Ittou-Blade of sand- Gaara can manipulate his sand to form a sharp blade like structure.

Naruto's youkai enhanced barrage is still the Naruto Rendan.

Over and Out

Eye of the Blizzard.

No this is not the final chapter of the Will of Fire Lives Stronger than Ever.


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